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The wheat and the tares

Matt 13:24–30, 36–43 · Later ministry in Galilee

Scripture

Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43

nother parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. 36Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

King James Version · public domain

Mateu 13:24–30, 36–43

jë tjatërë paravoli u pruri atyre, dyke thënë, Mbretëri’ e qiejvet gjan me një njeri që mbolli farë të-mirë nd’arët të ti; 25po tek flininë njerëzitë, erdhi armiku i ati, e mbolli egjër ndë mest të grurit, edhe iku. 26Edhe kur mbiu bari e bëri pemë, atëhere uduk edhe egjëri. 27Edhe shërbëtorët’ erthnë përanë të-zotit të shtëpisë, e i thanë, Zot, nukë mbolle ti farë të-mirë ndë arët t’ënde? nga dolli pra egjëri? 28Po ay u tha atyre, Ndonjë njeri armik e ka bërë këtë. Edhe shërbëtorët’ i than’ ati, Do pra të vemi e t’a mbledhëm atë? 29Po ay tha, Jo; sepse dyke mbledhurë egjërinë, mos çkulni edhe grurëtë bashkë me atë. 30Lër-i-ni të rritenë të dy bashkë gjer mbë të-korrët edhe ndë kohët të të-korrit dot’ u them korrësvet, Mblithni më përpara egjërinë, edhe e lithni dorëza, për të djegur’ atë; po grurët’ e mblithni ndë grunart t’im. 36Atëhere Jisuj la gjindjen’ e erdhi ndë shtëpit, edhe nxënësit’ e ati i erthnë përanë e i thanë, sgjith-na paravolin’ e egjërit t’arësë. 37Edhe ay upërgjeq e u tha atyre: Ay që mbjell farën’ e-mirë ësht’ i Bir’ i njeriut; 38edhe ara është bota; edhe far’ e-mirë, këta janë të bijt’ e mbretërisë; edhe egjëri janë të bijt’ e të-ligut; 39Edhe armiku që mbolli ata, është djalli; edhe të-korrëtë është të-mbaruarët’ e jetësë; edhe korrësitë janë ëngjëjtë. 40Sindëkur pra mblidhetë egjëri, edhe digjetë ndë zjarr, kështu dotë jetë mbë të-mbaruarët të kësaj jetë. 41I Bir’ i njeriut dotë dërgonjë ëngjëjt’ e ti, edhe dotë mbledhënë nga mbretëri’ e ati gjithë skan-dhalitë, edhe ata që punojnë paudhërinë; 42Edhe dot’i hedhën ata ndë furrët të zjarrit; atje dotë jetë të-qarët’ e të-kërcëlliturit’ e dhëmbëvet. 43Atëhere të-drejtëtë dotë ndritnjënë si djelli ndë mbretërit t’Atit të tyre. Ay që ka veshë për të dëgjuar letë dëgjonjë.

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

Summary

The Lord gives the key in the second half of the parable: the sower is the Son of Man, the field the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom, the enemy the devil, the harvest the close of the age, and the reapers the angels. The enemy comes by night, while men sleep, and sows weeds among the wheat: this is the devil scattering heresy and wickedness among the faithful, and "while men sleep" warns that he works through our negligence.

Chrysostom dwells on the command not to uproot the tares before the harvest, taking it as a guard against rash zeal. Were the servants to tear out the weeds now, they would tear up the wheat with them, both because the line between the two is not always plain to us and because one who is a weed today may become wheat tomorrow by repentance. So the prohibition forbids putting heretics to death, though not restraining their mouths, refuting their error, and breaking up their assemblies. Origen presses that wheat and tares look alike until the ear forms, so that hasty separation injures the field; judgment belongs to the angels, who see truly, and to the end. Theophylact gathers the same sense, that God bears with the wicked patiently, giving room for conversion.

Blessed Augustine made this parable central against the Donatists, who wished a Church already pure. In this age, he answered, the Church is a mixed body, a field where wheat and tares grow together, not a society of the perfect; the sorting belongs to Christ at the harvest, not to us now. This is the patience of God, who lets both grow until the end, when the angels gather the weeds and the righteous shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

In their own words

of the very tares it is likely that many may change and become wheat. If therefore ye root them up beforehand, ye injure that which is to become wheat, slaying some, in whom there is yet room for change and improvement.

St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Homily XLVI (on Matt. xiii. 24-30), section 1; NPNF1 Vol. 10

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:24–30)

Public-Domain Patristic Commentary

A man sows good seed in his field, but while men slept his enemy sows tares, a weed that looks like wheat, among it and goes away. When the tares appear, the householder's servants offer to root them up, but he forbids it: "Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest." At the harvest the reapers will first gather the tares to be burned, and then gather the wheat into the barn. Christ explains the parable Himself: the sower is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, the tares are the children of the wicked one, the enemy is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations, each Father from his own work or as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew (St. Thomas Aquinas, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841). Nothing is paraphrased.

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homilies 46 and 47 (on Matthew 13:24–30 and 13:36–43) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Public domain. Full text: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200146.htm and https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/200147.htm

On the tares as the devil's counterfeit, sown while men slept:

For indeed this also is a part of the devil's craft, by the side of the truth always to bring in error, painting thereon many resemblances, so as easily to cheat the deceivable. Therefore He calls it not any other seed, but tares; which in appearance are somewhat like wheat. Then He mentions also the manner of his device. For "while men slept," saith He. It is no small danger, which He hereby suspends over our rulers, to whom especially is entrusted the keeping of the field; and not the rulers only, but the subjects too.

On why the householder forbids the servants to uproot the tares:

He forbids them, saying, "Lest haply ye root up the wheat with them." And this He said, to hinder wars from arising, and blood and slaughter. For it is not right to put a heretic to death, since an implacable war would be brought into the world.

On the two reasons behind that restraint, including the hope that tares may yet become wheat:

Either He means this, If ye are to take up arms, and to kill the heretics, many of the saints also must needs be overthrown with them; or that of the very tares it is likely that many may change and become wheat. If therefore ye root them up beforehand, ye injure that which is to become wheat, slaying some, in whom there is yet room for change and improvement. He doth not therefore forbid our checking heretics, and stopping their mouths, and taking away their freedom of speech, and breaking up their assemblies and confederacies, but our killing and slaying them.

On the field as the world, which belongs to Christ:

For whereas He Himself is the sower, and that of His own field, and out of His own kingdom He gathers, it is quite clear that the present world also is His.

Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament, Sermon 23 (on the tares) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 6. Public domain. Full text: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/160323.htm

On how the tares appeared only when the wheat began to bear fruit:

Today the Lord has again spoken another parable of the sower, who sowed good seed in his field. While men slept the enemy came, and sowed tares upon it. As long as it was only in the blade, it did not appear; but when the fruit of the good seed began to appear, then appeared the tares also.

On patience with the mixture of evil and good until the harvest:

Why are you so hasty, He says, you servants full of zeal? You see tares among the wheat, you see evil Christians among the good; and you wish to root up the evil ones; be quiet, it is not the time of harvest. That time will come, may it only find you wheat! Why do ye vex yourselves? Why bear impatiently the mixture of the evil with the good? In the field they may be with you, but they will not be so in the barn.

St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

From his Commentary on Matthew, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the enemy who is called a man, and on the watchfulness owed by those set over the Church:

The Devil is called a man that is an enemy because he has ceased to be God ... Wherefore let not him sleep that is set over the Church, lest through his carelessness the enemy should sow therein tares, that is, the dogmas of the heretics.

On the room left for repentance, lest a brother be hastily cut off:

For room for repentance is left, and we are warned that we should not hastily cut off a brother, since one who is today corrupted with an erroneous dogma, may grow wiser tomorrow, and begin to defend the truth.

On the close resemblance of wheat and tares, and reserving judgment to the last day:

But between wheat and tares ... so long as it is only in blade, before the stalk has put forth an ear, there is very great resemblance, and none or little difference to distinguish them by. The Lord then warns us not to pass a hasty sentence on an ambiguous word, but to reserve it for His judgment, that when the day of judgment shall come, He may cast forth from the assembly of the saints no longer on suspicion but on manifest guilt.

On the burning of the tares and the gathering of the wheat into the heavenly barns:

In that He says that the bundles of tares are to be cast into the fire, and the wheat gathered into barns, it is clear that heretics also and hypocrites are to be consumed in the fires of hell, while the saints who are here represented by the wheat are received into the barns, that is into heavenly mansions.

Note on other Fathers

Chrysostom, Augustine, and Jerome all draw from the parable the same counsel, patience, and a refusal to tear up the tares before the harvest, but they look through slightly different windows. Chrysostom, following Christ's own words that the field is the world, reads the tares chiefly as heresies and false teachers, and turns the householder's restraint into a striking limit on coercion: heretics may be checked and answered and their assemblies broken up, but they are not to be put to death, "since an implacable war would be brought into the world," and because "of the very tares it is likely that many may change and become wheat." Augustine looks within the visible Church and sees "evil Christians among the good," counseling the zealous not to vex themselves over the mixture, since the separation belongs to the harvest and not to us: "in the field they may be with you, but they will not be so in the barn." Jerome dwells on the near-indistinguishable resemblance of wheat and tares "so long as it is only in blade," urging that no hasty sentence be passed on an ambiguous case but that it be reserved for the Lord's judgment, while still leaving room for repentance, since one corrupted today "may grow wiser tomorrow." This parable became one of the most frequently cited texts in later debates over religious toleration. The Catena Aurea also preserves comments by Remigius, Rabanus Maurus, and the Gloss, whose remarks are chiefly explanatory; their fuller treatments survive in English mostly in modern copyrighted editions. For verbatim public-domain English, the works above are the principal sources.

Patristic sources

Read the sources: Chrysostom on Matthew (CCEL)